


Medicine

by screamsintothesun



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Lance being exasperated, M/M, Mild Language, Sick Character, keith being stubborn af, keith mentally calls lance a fucker but in an endearing way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8033233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamsintothesun/pseuds/screamsintothesun
Summary: “I-“He licks his lips and looks up at Lance. God his throat hurt, and talking didn’t help. “Please don’t make a big deal out of this. I don’t need everyone worrying about me.” He takes a slight pause to grimace as he swallows “I can take care of myself, Lance.”
“Really, Keith? I don’t want to dampen your independent spirit or anything, but it doesn’t even look like you can stand by yourself.” 
Keith is sick and stubborn and Lance is a good boyfriend.





	Medicine

The day had started out just fine. Keith got up, went to breakfast, went to Voltron training, and went about his normal schedule like he always did. But as the castle’s simulated morning slipped into the afternoon, Keith could feel something off. A slight headache and scratchy throat soon turned into a throbbing headache and an inability to breathe properly. His throat burned and he couldn’t breathe through his nose anymore. He couldn’t even remember the last time he felt so sick. He barely finished his personal training, and wobbled into and out of the shower in a daze. 

He makes his way to the living area. There he sits on a couch and tries not to wheeze too hard. He would go to his room but he’s pretty sure he’ll pass out the minute he gets there. He really has nowhere else to go, and he knows Lance will come looking for him if he wanders off without meeting with him after practice. Keith remembers someone saying the healing pods can only heal injuries, so he can’t quietly use those to feel better. He tips his head back to rest it on the back of the couch, and closes his eyes. Have the lights in here always been so bright? Keith flops an arm over his eyes, to help shade them from the bright light. _It’s probably not that bad_ Keith thinks as he lets out a labored breath. He hears the distant sound of the doors swoosh open.

“Hey Babe! Did ya miss me?” Lance greets then sits himself close to Keith on the couch. “Boy training was rough today, wasn’t it? I think Coran has a thing for seeing us get our asses kicked!” He jokes while fixing his hair. He always has to get style it just perfectly after a shower, Keith had noticed a while ago. They’ve been dating for some time, falling into a comfortable rhythm with each other. They still bicker, but it’s mostly just for fun these days. But right now, Keith feels no such desire to banter with his boyfriend. 

Keith lets out a small grunt in reply and tries not to look as sick as he feels. His condition had suddenly dropped and he feels worse than he did only minutes ago. _It might be a bit worse than I first thought_. Keith’s thoughts are interrupted when he feels Lances weight on the couch shift as he turns to inspect his boyfriend.

“Keith, are you ok?” There’s a gentleness in Lance’s voice, and a hint of concern. Normally Keith would just brush him off and work through his problems by himself. But he feels so tired and shivery and too hot and too cold at the same time, he doesn’t think he has the energy to try to lie to Lance, especially since the fucker had gotten so good at reading him. 

Instead of a verbal reply to Lance’s question, Keith merely turns toward lance and shoves his body into lance’s torso. Keith wraps his arms around Lance, and pushes him onto the couch so that he can lay down. He feels slightly better being in a more horizontal position, and the heat of his boyfriend’s body helps lessen his shivers. 

“Uh, Keith?” Lance questioned. Keith only buries his face into Lance’s chest. Now although Lance had no issues cuddling with Keith, it’s one of his favorite past times actually, Keith instigating said cuddle sessions is extremely rare, especially in a more public place such as the communal living area of the castle. They lay there for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other’s company. Lance is about to question Keith again when he notices Keith’s slightly labored breathing and occasional shivering. His hand finds Keith’s face and feels for his temperature. 

“Keith you have a fever! Why didn’t you say anything earlier? Did you train with a fever?!” Lance chastises “Let’s get you to bed, and I’ll go get some medicine for you. What else are you feeling besides a fever? Nausea? Headache? There’s gotta be some cold medicine somewhere in this massive ship. Do you think Alteans even get sick? What if they don’t? Maybe Hunk can make some space soup and that’ll help…” Lance started to ramble while he tries to sit up.

“No!” Keith croaks and holds onto Lance tighter. Lance’s eyes widen slightly at Keith’s outburst and the sound of his voice. He sounds really bad. 

“I-“He licks his lips and looks up at Lance. God his throat hurt, and talking didn’t help. “Please don’t make a big deal out of this. I don’t need everyone worrying about me.” He takes a slight pause to grimace as he swallows “I can take care of myself, Lance.”

Lance lets out a small sigh. He sits up, with a whine of protest from Keith, and looks at his boyfriend face to face. Keith looks really pale, like, paler than normal, which Lance didn’t even think was possible. His eyes are glassy and his breath comes in shivered gasps. 

“Really, Keith? I don’t want to dampen your independent spirit or anything, but it doesn’t even look like you can stand by yourself.” 

Keith dawns a look of determination after Lance’s comment and promptly exits his boyfriend’s lap to stand. He meant to do it quickly and gracefully, but his muscles shake from the sickness and the training, and when he does finally manage stand up his head immediately throbs and a wave of dizziness washes over him. Lance sees Keith about to fall over and quickly grabs him and they both sink back into the couch. 

Keith pants for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut, waiting for the dizziness to dispel. Lance doesn’t take his arms off of him. When Keith does open his eyes to meet Lances, he expects Lance’s signature ‘I-told-you-so’ look, but is only greeted with a look of concern. Keith lets out a shaky huff and grumbles “Fine, point taken. I still don’t see why everyone else needs to know I’m sick.”

“We’re a team, Keith. We gotta have each other’s backs. No secrets, blah blah blah. Haven’t you been listening to Shiro’s team speeches? And anyway, we’ve already been inside each other’s minds, how is knowing you’re sick going to be any worse?” Lance tries to keep his voice gentle. He wants to snap at his boyfriend for being an idiot, but in the current state he’s in Lance just wants him to feel better. He runs his fingers through Keith’s hair. That always seemed to calm Keith down some.

“But what if we get attacked and they make me stay here?” Keith says as he struggles to keep eye contact with Lance. Between his massive headache, the blinding lights, and Lance’s comforting hold, it’s getting hard to keep his eyes open. “If I’m here and we need to form Voltron, you guys could get hurt…They can’t know I’m sick.”

Lance knows Keith is in no shape to battle. Lance isn’t even sure how he made it through training. He’s well enough to argue, but Lance is pretty sure Keith will be stubborn to his grave. If they do need to form Voltron, Lance is sure they can figure something else out. With the state Keith is in he would probably be more of a liability in battle than helpful, but Lance keeps that comment to himself.

“C’mon.” Lance says gently as he picks Keith up. Keith squeaks and sputters out a few protests before laying limply against Lance’s chest.

“W-where are we going?” Keith says in defeat. He is too tired to try to fight. _Since when has this bean pole been strong enough to carry me?_ Keith hazily thinks as he wraps his arms around his boyfriend’s neck and rests his head against his shoulder. 

“I’m taking you to your room. You are going to stay in bed and I am going to go get you some medicine.” Lance says using his ‘stern voice’ that he would always use when his little siblings were being bothersome. Keith’s stubbornness reminded him of his siblings sometimes, especially now that he was sick. Although he preferred all of his teammates to be healthy, it felt nice to take care of someone again. 

“But-“

“Nope. No. No no no no. No you don’t. No more arguing. It’s going to take you even longer to heal if you don’t get some rest. And save your voice,” Lance said with a chuckle “you sound like shit.”

“I feel like shit, but that’s no excuse to stop training. Zarkon isn’t going to wait around for my sniffles to go away.”

“You’re impossible sometimes, you know that?” is Lance’s only reply as he entered Keith’s room. Keith was going to reply with some snappy retort, but his voice seems to have completely given up on him at this point. Lance gently sets Keith down on his bed, makes sure he’s comfortable, and kisses his forehead before speaking again. “No one’s gonna think any less of you for getting sick, ok Keith? Now stay right here while I go get some medicine and if you move one inch I’ll kick your ass into next space week, got it?” Lance said it jokingly, but Keith could hear the hint of seriousness behind his voice. Lance is really concerned for him, isn’t he? Keith had been alone before Voltron, he had dealt with illness by himself and come out fine, but it did feel nice to have someone dote on him. Maybe Lance had a point, taking a little break wouldn’t be that bad, just for a minute…

“..eith? Keith. Wake up…” Keith’s eyes fluttered open to see Lance looking down to him, gently shaking his shoulder. “Good god I thought you were dead. So god damn pale…Y’see what I mean? I have maybe been gone for five minutes and you already fell asleep. Jesus you’re gonna train yourself to death one of these days and I’m gonna have to speak at your space funeral because you couldn’t stay alive! Defeated in battle? No. Self-sacrificing hero? No. No my boyfriend is going to fucking die because he’s too stubborn to ask for help…” Lance started rambling again while he prepared something next to Keith’s bed. Keith figured out he did that when he was nervous or concerned. 

“Yeah, you’re right.” Keith mumbles out. Well at least his voice came back a bit. He feels groggy and hadn’t really heard all of what he said but Lance didn’t seem to notice. Lance sits on Keith’s bed, a pill and a water pouch in each hand. 

“Oh, uh, of course I’m right!” Lance said almost hesitantly. Lance hadn’t really meant most of the things he just said, but he figures Keith isn’t quite conscious enough to remember this conversation anyway. Lance can’t even enjoy his boyfriend saying that he’s right though, seeing as Keith looks like he’s dying. “Here. Allura said this pill would help your fever go down. Drink as much water as you can too.”

When Keith struggles to sit up Lance quickly put the pill and pouch down to help him. He pushes his shoulders forward and situates himself so that Lance’s legs are on either side of Keith and Keith’s back rests against his chest. 

“What’s this for?” Keith asks in regards to Lance’s new position. Lance reached over and grabs the pill and water before answering.

“We’re having a bonding moment! I’m cradling you in my arms!” Lance exclaims while Keith swallows the pill. 

“Oh, trying to be funny, are we?” Keith speaks softly as he leans back against Lance, never having fully woken up from his unconsciousness before. 

“Well they say laughter is the best medicine, apart from super advanced alien drugs.”

Keith hums an acknowledgement, and Lance thinks he has fallen asleep when he hears Keith mutter a soft “I think the best medicine is caring boyfriends.” Keith barely finishes the sentence before falling back asleep.

“Yeah, those work pretty well too.” Lance murmurs, leaning his head back against the wall.

**Author's Note:**

> Yo thanks for reading!
> 
> This is my first Voltron fic, and also first time writing fanfiction, so my apologies if everyone seems a little out of character. I'm still getting a feel for them.


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